Every nerve ending cried out in sheer pain.
She remembered when she'd accidentally tripped over the cat and burnt her hand on a hot stove, trying to catch herself.
This was like being burned alive in comparison.
And the room was so bright. She hadn't had the chance to adjust her eyes yet.
Slowly, Carol straightened her legs. Her bones popped as she did so, and she moaned as scorching pain exploded through her body.
After she found she'd be able to move her legs, she worked on sitting up. Her head sent sharp knives through her eyes.
She wiped her tears still streaming from her face and slowly opened her eyes. It wasn't easy. The brightness added to her growing migraine, but if she was going to have a fighting chance, she'd need to do whatever it took.
Looking through her eyelashes, she saw her hands were covered in blood.
Her blood.
Carol scanned the room, trying to find something she could use to defend herself with once her captor returned.
There was a reel of fishing wire and duct tape on top of the table, bloodied tire iron leaning against it. Thick globs of blood slowly dripped to the ground.
When she saw the weapon he’d obviously used on her, she began to sob. Carol forced herself to remain strong, but how could she?
She was in so much pain, and she was the captive of a man who seemed aroused by hitting her.
She only wanted to go home. Why wouldn't he just let her go home?
Stop it, Carol! Thinking it won’t make it happen. You’ve got to fight him.
She sniffled, trying to inch her way to the table.
She worked on lifting the tire iron, but it seemed too heavy for her. She'd become too weak since she’d met the man who kidnapped her…how long ago had it been? She had no idea. It was as if she’d been there…wherever there was…for days.
She didn't normally pray, but she did now. If there was a higher power out there like her mother insisted, she begged for Him to listen.
Carol struggled to put her hand on the edge of the table and lifted her body. When she did, she began to shake as her legs fought to support her weight.
After she began believing she was hopeless, she noticed something in the middle of the wide table.
She reached for it.
There was a button on the side.
She pressed it, and it made a hissing noise.
A taser.
She remembered he'd used it on her twice. Once when he’d first abducted her and again when he told her he’d free her.
Well.
Maybe now she could turn the table on him.
The more she flexed her muscles, the easier it became to move. She ran her hands along the wall, still blinded by the bright light until she found the knob on the door. She flattened herself against the wall, waiting for the abductor to return.
As her eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light, she tried to remember what he looked like so she could tell the police if she managed to escape.
No, not if. When.
She knew he had gray hair and a beard. But was it a disguise?
When she was brought into this room, she thought he had removed something from his face, but couldn't be sure. The light hurt her eyes and she still hadn't been able to adjust.
When she heard the sound of the knob turning, she gripped the taser.
Her heart began to beat in her ears.
It’s okay, Carol. You can do it. You’re strong.
“I am terribly sorry about that,” he said as he opened the door. “That was my—.”
She jammed the taser somewhere on his body. She wasn’t sure where and she didn’t care.
His piercing scream of surprise rang into her already excruciating headache, but the most important sound was the soft thud of his body hitting the floor.
Carol dropped the taser when he fell and flew over his body, leaving the light to enter the darkness. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to work fast.
After she crashed into the wall, Carol ran her hands along the side, moving frantically, in search of a door knob.
“Hey!” she heard him call from behind.
She saw a hazy aura from a flashlight behind her.
She finally found the knob.
“Get back here!”
She swung open the door.
“No!”
Forcing herself to be blind to the pain in her body, Carol flew from the building, running as fast as her legs would carry her.
He stood outside the warehouse and watched as she ran off into the distance. The tingling sensation from the taser still lingered in his nerves.
Kicking the door hard, he released an angry curse. Now he'd have to gather his things and find another location.
Again.
He wasn't too worried about her fingering him. The light in the little room was bright enough for her to not see his face, and he could tell by the way she was running into signs that she was still having trouble seeing in front of her.
Still, he couldn't take the chance she remembered where she was being held.
He hurried inside, grabbed everything he'd brought and threw it in the trunk of her car.
He knew he’d need to ditch it soon, but first, he wanted to see if he could find the girl before she ran her mouth about him and his point of operation.
52
AIDAN WOKE TO his phone vibrating from the bedside table. Looking at it, he saw it was Shaun calling. The clock told him it was almost midnight.
He answered as Cheyenne stirred in the bed next to him.
“This better be good,”
